WebMD Expands Production Partnership With Robin Roberts, Announces 15 New Video Franchises

At its first-ever NewFront event yesterday, WebMD announced 15 new video franchises and an expanded partnership with Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts to bring a weekly series to TV, as the company aims to be seen as far more than just a digital health database.

WebMD, which has partnered with Roberts on a digital series before, will team with her Rock’n Robin production company for Path to a Breakthrough, a new five-part series showcasing medical innovations. Additionally, WebMD and Rock’n Robin have created a weekly two-and-a-half minute TV segment titled WebMD Wellness Wednesday With Robin Roberts that they are currently shopping to local broadcast affiliates across the country. The show will explore different topics related to health, fitness, and beauty.

WebMD also works with another noted news anchor, Soledad O’Brien — who created a three-part series titled Teens & Stress for the site through her production company Starfish Media Group.

“WebMD has become part of the cultural landscape, and we are better positioned now than ever before to help connect consumers with the content that they want and need,” CEO David Schlanger  said in a statement. The company says it is used as a resource by more than a third of the U.S. online population.

Other new shows include both short-form “explainers” and personality-driven features, the company said, including WebMD 1:01 and In Plain Sight, both of which provide health-related information in a way that WebMD says is humorous and easy to understand.

Finally, like many presenters at this year’s NewFronts, WebMD — which says it reaches more than 76 million unique visitors and 10 million millennial moms per month — unveiled a branded content studio called WebMD Studios to tap this coveted demographic.